Nintendo recently published an Ask the Developer segment all about the upcoming Splatoon Raiders. One of the questions posed to the team was why they decided to create a Splatoon spin-off title rather than immediately start work on Splatoon 4. Yoshihiko Ito explained that while development of Splatoon 3 was winding down they were exploring the possibility of a dedicated single player Splatoon experience but wanted it to combine elements of Salmon Run to create something ” hectic yet exhilarating” and thus Splatoon Raiders was born.
After Splatoon 3, I would’ve expected the next release to be “Splatoon 4,” but instead it turned out to be a spin-off―what led to that decision?
Inoue: We’ve been going full speed ahead for over 11 years since the series’ launch, developing and updating three titles along the way. We thought it might be interesting to create something with a slightly different approach to gameplay, where you can really savor the action on your own. Splatoon isn’t just about competitive play; it also includes cooperative modes like Salmon Run and a single-player Story Mode. So, one of our motivations for developing this game was our desire to create a new entry point into the series by releasing these non-competitive elements not just as a secondary feature, but as a standalone spin-off. That said, we will continue to develop competitive gameplay going forward. That’s why we developed this game as a spin-off and not as “Splatoon 4.”
Ito: Originally, around the time our work on updates to Splatoon 3 was winding down, we were exploring whether we could develop a single-player experience that players could dive into to their heart’s content, leveraging the gameplay of Salmon Run. Salmon Run is a part-time gig for squids, where four players* team up to take down Salmonids and collect Golden Eggs. We thought that if we could adapt it for single-player, it might result in something hectic yet exhilarating. We’d discussed developing the next Splatoon game for Nintendo Switch 2, and that being the case, we thought we could really take advantage of the system’s performance. This prompted various experiments, such as ramping up the number of Salmonids for the “ultimate multitasker” experience, where a single player battles them all.
It does make more sense making a single player spin off then a new mainline game. I feel like they are still brainstorming new ideas for splatoon 4 to be wildy different from 2 and 3 after those got some backlash for not being that much different from their previous entries. So having splatoon raiders to feel that gap and feel different enough from previous games, I think this game is justified for existing.
I can’t wait to play it, but I will be busy the day it releases, so this really launches on friday for me.
This really explains a lot. They wanted to try something different by creating a new approach for the series. I have played the three previous games in my spare time and really love the style and its gameplay mechanics.